Yet Another Birthday

Friday saw yet another birthday on my calendar. The years seem to rush by. It doesn't seem all that long ago, I was lamenting becoming 70. This year saw me become 74. I don't feel that age and people tell me I look 20 years younger. I am slim, fit, and try to remain so. But the calendar doesn't lie nor my birth certificate. It's no good passing myself off as 21 again.

Kay and Darcy had taken the day off and were determined to give me a lovely day. I was asked many times in the weeks leading up to it, where I would like to go or what to do. The trouble with a November birthday is that you cannot guarantee the weather will be warm or even dry. Visits to stately homes or gardens are not really a good idea as this time of the year the gardens don't look their best and we have already covered most of the major museums and art galleries in London, just by living here all the time.

In the end, I decided on a visit to Greenwich. I haven't been there for decades. As the crow flies, it is not that far from where I live in South London, but transport links are not good and parking a car in that area is almost impossible. Not only that, when I last was there - probably some 25 years ago- the area was still run down post-war. Now it has become somewhat gentrified and more worth a visit.

We caught a bus from the end of my road and ended up in Blackheath - a very expansive heath with grand houses and bijou shops. We walked into Greenwich Park (one of the Royal parks) which houses the Royal Observatory and the Meridien line - the centre of the world.  The view from there is amazing and, as luck would have it, the day was unusually very sunny for November, as you can see here. The view down to the Royal Naval College, the Thames and the City skyscrapers beyond is absolutely stunning. 

Greenwich taken from the Blackheath end of the park

Walking into the centre of Greenwich we found the indoor market which contains numerous stalls selling antiques, clothing, jewellery, and more with shops on all four sides selling expensive paintings and prints. There were also a number of food stalls and we lingered for a while to eat some gooey cakes drenched in custard and chocolate sauce.

Hand-made chocolates in one of the indoor market shops

By the time it was two o'clock, we had not reached the main reason for our visit which was to board the Cutty Sark - a tea clipper built in 1869 to trade tea and opium with China. After my recent experience on old ships in Portsmouth, I thoroughly enjoyed being "afloat" again, even if it was in dry dock. I had never before considered why the ship was so called but apparently it was named after the poem Tam O'Shanter by Robert Burns, which is about a farmer chased by a witch wearing a cutty sark. "Cutty" is old Scottish for "short" and "sark" is a "nightshirt".

The Cutty Sark

After an interesting wander round the ship, by which time it was getting dark and chilly, we called in at the Gypsy Moth pub for a glass of mulled wine, before heading home on a Docklands Light Railway train to Lewisham and then onwards further south by bus. We ordered a Chinese takeaway (a luxury for me, as it always seems too much to eat on my own) to finish off the evening.

Unfortunately Kay was brewing a virus all day (the cons of being a doctor on a respiratory ward) and was suffering by the end of the evening with a raging temperature and cough. Two days on it looks like she may have flu. Bless her, she battled on through my birthday to give me a good time but was punished badly for it, as she is really quite ill this weekend.